Phytochemical Evaluation and Antimalarial Effects of Artemisia turanica Herbal Extracts as an Iranian Flora on Plasmodium berghei In Vivo

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effects of Iranian flora Artemisia turanica against Plasmodium berghei in vivo and antimalarial evaluation of its different extracts. This is the first application of Iranian flora A. turanica herbal extracts on treatment of murine malaria. The aerial parts of A. turanica were collected at flowering season from Bojnord, north eastern Iran in 2009. They were air-dried at room temperature; powder was macerated in methanol; suspension was filtered and it was extracted and dried by Rotary Evaporator. Total herbal extract was subsequently processed to prepare ether and chloroform extracts. The toxicity of herbal extract was assessed on naive NMRI mice, and it's antimalarial efficacy was investigated on infected P. berghei animals. The significance of differences was determined by student's t-test using Graph Pad prism software. The results indicated no toxicity was observed even by high concentration of herbal extract by measuring body weight, survival rate and hepato/ splenomegaly. It is demonstrated that A. turanica possesses therapeutic activity against P. berghei. Total extract presented antimalarial effects against P. berghei and can be attributed to the presence of its compounds as an effective therapy.